Saint John’s wrestling travels north tonight for a pair of duals in Grand Rapids. SJU takes on NAIA Jamestown (N.D.) at 5 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. bout with host Itasca C.C.
Saint John’s (0-1 dual record) returns to dual competition after competing in open tournaments each of its last five dates, including the Central Invitational last Saturday (Jan. 5) in Pella, Iowa. Junior Noah Becker (Browerville, Minn.) won the 133-pound title, his third tournament win of the season, with a 3-0 record. He started the day with a pin and registered an 8-4 decision in the semifinal. Becker won the tourney with a 10-1 major decision of Wartburg’s Tyler Fleetwood and is now 16-2 on the year with wins in 14 of his last 15 matches.
Freshman Jacob Scherber (Buffalo, Minn.) bounced back from an opening-round technical fall with three bonus-point wins to win the consolation title at 174 pounds. He tallied pins in his first two consolation bouts and ended the day with an 11-2 major decision over Simpson’s Damon Piatt. Scherber is now 14-9 this season.
Junior Dominic Skawiniak (Rogers, Minn.), like Scherber, suffered a bonus-point loss in the first round but answered with a pair of shutouts to win the consolation title at 184 pounds. He tallied a 5-0 decision in his first wrestleback and finished with an 11-0 major decision over Wartburg’s Justin Henry to improve to 7-6 on the year.
Junior Quincy Spiering (Mounds View, Minn./St. Thomas Academy) went 3-1, all pins, to claim fifth place at heavyweight. His lone loss, in the quarterfinal, was to Scott Dollison from NAIA Briar Cliff (Iowa). Spiering is 9-7 so far this season.
THE LINEUP: The Johnnies are expected to send these wrestlers to Grand Rapids tonight, sans the team’s most recently ranked wrestlers: Becker (at 133 pounds) and senior Luke Dodd (at 197; Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview).
125: Josh Clark (3-7)
133: Open
141: Andrew Smith (1-2)
149: Anthony Hennen (3-12)
157: Caleb Jungling (1-8)
165: Joe Hennen (1-6)
174: Dan Gainer (3-10) or Jacob Scherber (14-9)
184: Dan Gehrz (2-5) or Dominic Skawiniak (7-6)
197: Open
285: Quincy Spiering (9-7)
A LOOK AT THE VIKINGS: Itasca C.C. (1-2 dual record) went 0-2 at last weekend’s NWCA/NJCAA National Duals in Kentucky. The Vikings took on the top seed, No. 2 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, in the opening round and lost 57-0, and exited the tournament with a 46-9 defeat to No. 16 Triton (Ill.). Itasca’s lone dual win was a 36-21 home decision over Minnesota West C.T.C. Sophomore Corey Schmidt is currently ranked fourth (NJCAA) at 197 pounds.
A LOOK AT THE JIMMIES: Jamestown (1-2 dual record) went 1-1 in a home triangular back on Dec. 12. The Jimmies defeated Northland C.T.C. 42-9 before falling to Concordia-Moorhead, 43-6. Senior Matt Hernandez is ranked No. 10 (NAIA) at 184 pounds.
Check out Johnnies Wrestling at gojohnnies.com.
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